Expert Productivity, Motivation & Mindset Tips

If you want to become more productive at work and in your life, there are many things you may not have considered. There are two main barriers to your success; your mindset and your ability to work efficiently. Follow these tips, collected from productivity, wellbeing and business experts, and you could transform your work and your business…

- Leaving early on Fridays means a dip in productivity for 80% of workplaces, and 23% of workers see stress levels increase from Monday to Thursday as a result

- Tuesdays are the most productive day of the week, with Thursday and Friday being least productive. Get your big tasks out of the way early!

- The least productive time of the day is between 4-6pm, followed by 2-4pm. Get meetings and critical tasks out of the way early in the day, saving creative thinking for later on.

- Current workplace productivity growth is at a 250-year low; advances in technology are also leading to increased procrastination

“Do something every day…when you’re trying to make a life change, it has to become a habit. In order for it to become a habit, you have to do it daily.” – Lea Bullen, Leading Edge Advocate – this can be for simple things such as filing your paperwork, or getting yourself to ‘Inbox Zero’; where your email inbox is empty every day.

Alternatively for Inbox Zero, you could consider opting for a similar strategy to Leo Babauta of zen habits: not replying to any emails, and stating so up front.

It might seem blunt, but it works; it is exceptional for keeping emails received to a minimum.

Mike Vardy of Productivityist recommends reaching five zeros every day:

Inbox 0: Processing your e-mails and making the inbox empty

Task List 0: Working through all of the day’s tasks, or making good progress on

Tab 0: Processing all open tabs to zero

Input 0: Inputting all your notes so that every idea, thought or task is handled and scheduled properly

Work desk 0: Cleaning your desk after you have stopped working

“Check your email in the afternoon, so you protect your peak energy hours of the morning for your best work.” – Robin Sharma, RobinSharma.com

“Chunk your time. Things you do many times per day, do once per day (email, social media, etc.). Things you do multiple times per week, do one per day (meetings, writing, etc.).” – Evan Carmichael, EvanCarmichael.com

Stop multitasking: “Multitasking makes us less efficient. This is because our brains are unable to focus on more than one thing at once, so when we think we are, what we’re actually doing is rapidly jumping back and forth between topics.” – Tina Daniels, WorkAwesome

“An undervalued approach to avoiding distractions is to elevate your energy level. When we feel sub-optimal and have trouble staying focused, that’s when we get easily distracted.” – Thanh Pham, Asian Efficiency

“Most people feel best about their work the week before their vacation, but it's not because of the vacation itself. What do you do the last week before you leave on a big trip? You clean up, close up, clarify, and renegotiate all your agreements with yourself and others. I just suggest that you do this weekly instead of yearly.” – David Allen, Getting Things Done

“Start phone calls with “I only have a couple of minutes” or “the reason for my call is…” and thank the person you called for providing the information you needed.” – Colette Robicheau, Organize Anything

Stop trying to be perfect: “Perfection is subjective…trying to be perfect in everything you do is futile.” – Jay White, Dumb Little Man

“Always be ready… When time opens up, we suddenly have time in our day that we didn’t before. ‘Found’ time can be used for additional tasks, or for doing the things you’ve been putting off.” – Jason Womack, GetMomentum

Mindset Tips:

“Start facing your problems head on. – It isn’t your problems that define you, but how you react to them and recover from them. .” – Marc Chernoff, Marc and Angel Hack Life

“There are countless opportunities waiting for you. Write down the things you want, and go find them.” – Jenn Hudak, This is for the Dreamers

“Begin taking responsibility for where you are in life and take responsibility for yourself and your actions. Even if you’re a victim of extenuating circumstances; the responsibility is still on you to succeed in the face of adversity.” – Zakk LeCates, The Daily Dose of Motivation Podcast

“Redefine your goals. Change them. Adjust them a little bit. Improve on them. And make them even bigger, badder and more meaningful.” – Theo Ellis, Just Be Real

“We can’t just sweep resentments under the rug. If we are to be free of the resentments we hold we have to commit to changing those parts of us that we don’t like and move on.” – Mike Martin, Change the Things You Can

“Every single one of us is capable of greatness.” – Ivy Shelden, The World is Yours

“You can succeed in the future only by facing today’s challenges head-on, reframing them as opportunities, and taking advantage of them.” – Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro

“When you slip up, don’t beat yourself up. Just notice it and move on. Recommit to a new and improved default.” – Neen James, NeenJames.com